PRODUCTS Of CEYLON. 209
up on passers by, and try to exact from them their
favourite food. I was often reminded by unpleasant
nips that they had got hold of me. For months after
leaving Ceylon I had on my limbs marks of their doings.
When travelling between Kandy and Newera Ellia, I
was the guest of coffee-planters, all of them, so far as I
remember, my own countrymen; and saw coffee in all
its stages, from the berry on the coffee-bush on to the
manufactured article ready for the market The plant is
indigenous in the island, but It was turned to little account
till taken up by Europeans. The pioneers in its culture,
as so often happens in such cases, are said to have lost
heavily; but at the time of my visit plantations were
paying well, and a large tract of land was under cultiva-
tion. I believe it afterwards ceased to be profitable,
and now tea cultivation is taking Its place.
At one time cinnamon was the most valuable export of
the island, but by 1858 :t had so decreased in value by
its being produced abundantly in • lands still farther east^
that comparatively little attention-was given to it I was
taken to the public garden in Colombo, and saw the
work-people with their sharp knives peeling off the
fragrant bark from the cinnamon-tree, and preparing it
for the market.
Colombo, the capital, is a large, stirring, rising to^m.
Galle is a much smaller place, and owes its importance
to its being a place of call for steamers on account of its
sheltered bay. It Is noted for its pedlars, men who, with
combs in their long hair, and clad in jacket and petticoat,
might be taken for women. Their wares of jewellery
and precious stones have not a high character for genuine-
ness. Kundy, the old capital in the interior, is a small
place, lying very low, and is surrounded by hills. It has